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Associations between Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and Early/Child Marriage: A Multi-Country DHS/MICS Analysis

Authored by: Jamlick Karumbi and David Gathara

Categories: Human Rights
Sub-Categories: Human Development, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Sexual and Reproductive Health
Year: 2020
Citation: Karumbi, Jamlick, and David Gathara. “Associations between Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and Early/Child Marriage: A Multi-Country DHS/MICS Analysis.” The Population Council, January 2020.

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Executive Summary

Over the last several decades, global efforts to end female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) have intensified, through the combined efforts of international and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), governments, and religious and civil society groups. Evidence of the wider impacts of FGM/C and interventions for its abandonment is small but emerging. The practice of FGM/C has been frequently linked to a girl’s marriageability and is thought to be associated with child marriage, either directly, as a cause of early/child marriage, or vice versa, or indirectly, resulting from common causes. Evidence of the relationships between these two practices, to inform programming and policy for abandonment interventions, is limited at best, however. This study 1) investigates the relationship between FGM/C and early/child marriage; 2) investigates the possible correlates of early/child marriage; 3) compares FGM/C practice across the region; and, 4) examines the correlates for FGM/C.